UA president touts campus safety improvements

University of Arizona officials gathered Friday to further emphasize campus and student safety as a top priority a week after classes resumed.

President Robert Robbins and Steve Patterson, the UA’s interim chief safety officer, led Friday’s “Welcome Back” briefing, which was also broadcast on the school’s YouTube channel.

They both highlighted a multitude of physical safety upgrades made to campus, like updated emergency building plans, the installation of new locks on classroom doors and distribution of all-hazards posters, something previously reported by the Star.

They also talked about expanded mental health and threat awareness services available to staff and what Robbins described as the “largest, most diverse” incoming class in the school’s history.

“We’re very excited about the start of the new academic semester at the University of Arizona,” Robbins said. “About 9,300 new students coming to the university, which gives us a total of about 52,000 students.”

These upgrades are part of several recommendations made by the PAX Group, LLC, the crisis management consulting firm the UA used following the shooting death of UA professor Thomas Meixner last October.

“Part of my role is to not only ensure that we do the physical updates, but also create awareness and really focus on making people aware of what resources are out there,” chief safety officer Patterson said.

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These resources have been made available on the university’s safety page, created by their new Office of Public Safety. These include the Wildcat Safety Guide, active shooter preparedness training for students, as well as mental health resources for both students and faculty.

“A lot of these resources have been with the campus for a number of years, we’re just highlighting those resources,” Patterson says.

The importance of the campus community promoting safety and awareness is not missed by officials, Patterson said. One of the new tools employed by the university is the LiveSafe app, which students and faculty can use to report concerning behavior, as well as to have a direct line to UAPD.

“(Mental health) is a big part of our safety ... it’s been a very exciting time,” Patterson said of the new semester and incoming class. “We’re trying to make sure UAPD has a presence out there so people are aware of what to do moving forward.”

Patterson also announced that Jessica Semmann will take over as director of the university’s Threat Assessment and Management Team effective Monday.

“I think there is a cultural change that has happened since we established this office and put more resources to encourage people to be aware [and] to be educated,” President Robbins said. “Prevention should be 99.9% of what (Patterson’s) team should be doing, and the way that you do that is empower people to be part of the solution, and to communicate.”